


Boys Can't Ever Say They're In Love, Even If They're In It Right Now

by Sheepywritesfics



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Bisexual Richie Tozier, Blushing, Bullying, Coming Out, Courtship, Declarations Of Love, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Kiss, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Idiots in Love, Love Poems, Lovesickness, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Period-Typical Homophobia, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Slice of Life, Soft Richie Tozier, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 14,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21679645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheepywritesfics/pseuds/Sheepywritesfics
Summary: Eddie's a demon and Richie's an angel and they're in love with each other. That's basically about it.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 10
Kudos: 86





	1. Happy

“Hey, Eds?”

“Yeah?”

“How come you’re floating a bit off the ground like that?” Richie asks as Eddie sluggishly opens his eyes and then blinks. They’re currently laying on their backs on the ground as they idly watch the clouds drift by. In Eddie’s case, he had been lulled into a nap thanks to the peacefulness of the moment before Richie had started talking. 

Eddie’s tail whips and flaps in random directions as he begins to get more and more awake, while one of his hands blindly weaves in and out of the sliver of space that now exists between him and the ground. “Oh, that? It just happens whenever I’m feeling really happy about something. Can angels do it too?” Eddie asks as he turns his head over to the left and tilts it sideways as he looks at Richie. 

The other boy’s eyes glitter at the thought; he then proceeds to close his eyes and scrunches up his face as he concentrates. Eddie’s a second away from telling him all of that wasn’t necessary before Riche’s body suddenly shoots up a good eight inches off the ground.

“Holy shit Rich!”

“I know right?! So tell me how’s the view from down there spaghetti man?”

“More like tell me what made you so happy that you were able to blast off into the air like that.”

_'Being able to spend time alone with you like this'_ “Oh, it was nothing really, except for the thought of spending the whole night fucking your sweet mo-”

“Dude!”

* * *

“Hey, Richie?” Eddie says as he slowly drags the stick in his hand through space between two random rocks on the ground. The other boy grunts as he does the same thing a few feet ahead of Eddie, with narrowed eyes and the tip of his tongue poking out of the side his mouth. The dragon that they are supposed to be drawing in the ground looks more like a very large and constipated bear if you asked Eddie, but at the same time, he found it to be quite charming.

“How come you never have your wings out?” Eddie continues while Richie instantly freezes up at the question. The silence that drags on between them afterward, gets to be so awkward that Eddie can’t help but feel compelled to fill it up with needless babbling. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course, I’m just curious about it that’s all I promise! In all honesty, I just want to see how pretty they are you know? Like what color the feathers are and if they are shiny, like the sliver and cream-colored wings of these two boys I saw playing with a bunch of paper boats, at a lake yesterday afternoon when I was sneaking back into my house-”

“I don’t have them out all the time because they’re fucking stupid,” Richie abruptly cuts into Eddie’s rambling with a voice that doesn’t sound angry actually, but more along the lines of someone who is deeply exhausted. It makes Eddie frown hard as he drops his stick on the ground, before making his way over to Richie, who had sat down on the ground with his stick still in his hand.

Eddie silently plops down beside him and Richie sighs softly. “ They’re small, like insanely small like a baby’s wings would be, and they’re this really ugly brown color that looks like something had come along and taken a huge dump on me-”

“Can I see them?” Eddie jumps in this time, not even bothering to hide the excitement in his voice. It stops Richie dead in his tracks and makes his eyes widen and his mouth opens up wide enough to show off a peek of his braces.

“….You’re serious about this aren’t you?” He asks quietly and before Eddie can give him a proper answer, his wings are just suddenly out in the open without any warning what so ever. They are colored brown but instead of the bad way Richie had described it, the shade of brown reminds Eddie of the wooden cabinets located in the kitchen of his house. Their size, however, doesn’t even come close to being the general size of how a baby’s wings would be. They’re even smaller and can fit in his hands!

The silence between them while Eddie examines Richie’s wings must drag out, for too long because Richie starts to tense up and hunch into himself. “See I told you that they’re dumb and ugly and-”

Incredibly soft as it turns out, once Eddie works up enough courage to touch a group of feathers located near the top of Richie’s right wing. “I love them,” Eddie says while starting Richie straight in his eyes, smiling when Richie’s cheeks slowly turn a cute bright pink in response.


	2. Pretty Sugary Words

_Your hair is winter fire_

_January embers_

_My heart burns there too_

Ben finishes the poem with a quick flick of his wrist, his cheeks instantly warming at the sight of the postcard. He then places his pencil down on the table he was sitting at, before reaching behind him to pluck off a loose feather near the bottom of his left wing. After reaching into one of his pant pockets he takes out a string and then ties the feather onto the postcard.

“Damn Haystack, if I knew you were this good with words, I would’ve asked you to help me out with my English homework a long time ago!”

Ben all but launches himself over the table to cover the postcard, before turning to look behind him and shooting Richie a hot glare. “Ah come on now Benny boy don’t look at me like that,” Richie coos playfully while poking one of Ben’s rosy cheeks. Ben sticks his tongue out at Richie in response, causing the other boy to laugh loudly while he pulls up a chair to sit beside Ben.

“Soooo?”

“So what?” Ben asks back as he straightens himself back into his seat, before sliding over the postcard into Richie’s eager hands.

“Who’s the lucky girl?”

“….a demon girl named Beverly Marsh. She’s just so pretty and smart and kind and I just… always freeze-up whenever I’m around her. So I figured what better way to show that I like her other than to send her a poem you know?” Ben confesses softly, his words sounding loud though in the silence between them, thanks to Richie not saying anything in favor of staring intently at the postcard.

“….Then why isn’t your name signed on here?” He asks after a few more seconds of silence, and if it wasn’t for how nonjudgemental his voice sounded, Ben doesn’t think he would’ve felt comfortable enough to answer the question.

“Cause I… don’t want her to feel compelled to like me back or anything like that. I just want my words to make her happy and feel special because she’s so amazing and-”

“It’s painfully obvious that he doesn’t get told things like that as often as he should be,” Richie cuts in with a whisper, with his eyes still focused entirely onto the postcard and his lips twisted into a heavy frown.

Ben can’t help but blink owlishly at Richie, surprised at how forlorn his demeanor seemed so suddenly. 


	3. Pretty Sugary Words (cont.)

“Uh Richie, I’m starting to get the feeling that we’re talking about two different people here…” Ben says gently as Richie finally looks up from the postcard so that he can glance at Ben instead. His mouth is open as he prepares to say something before it randomly clamps shut again, as the color immediately drains from his cheeks and his eyes get alarmingly wide.

_“Oh no,”_ he moans before dropping his face onto the table, causing Ben to jump a little in his sit at Richie’s unexpected reaction.

“Richie, what’s wrong?!” He asks frantically while Richie curls his arms under his face.

“….There’s something I gotta tell you, Ben, that’s related to what I just said. And I’m scared to say it out loud because I don’t want you to end up hating me for it,” Richie mumbles after a few seconds, his words were so muffled that Ben had to lean over him just to hear them. 

“Oh Richie, of course, I’m not gonna hate you for whatever it is you need to tell me. You’re one of my best friends dummy,” Ben says quietly as he sits back down in his chair, before reaching over to place a hand onto one of Richie’s arms and then giving it a brief squeeze.

“ I…I uh…I really- ah fuck it!” Richie yells as he uncurls his arms and pushes himself away from the table; he then fiercely grabs onto Ben’s shoulders and pushes their faces together so close, that there’s only an inch of space between their noses. They maintain intense an intense amount of eye contact for a moment before Richie narrows his eyes and whispers,

“I’m gay!” 

“You’re…gay?”

“Well technically bisexual, but I figured gay would be more appropriate right now, since I’ve found myself in a dangerous situation recently,” Richie continues as he slowly removes his hands from Ben’s shoulders. He then places his face back onto the table but doesn’t bother covering up his face this time. 

“A dangerous situation?”

“Yeah, there’s this…uh… boy, that I’ve been hanging out with a lot with lately. He’s a demon too like Beverly and um…I… really really like him,” Richie finishes up, determinedly not looking anywhere in Ben’s direction. The other boy is quiet for a moment before beginning to scoot his seat closer to Richie’s. The loud noise being produced thanks to that is loud enough to make Richie look back at Ben, with such blatant surprise on his face that it makes a part of Ben ache a little inside.

“Well however this guy is, he must be pretty amazing to get the attention of Richie Tozier of all people,” he says while playfully jabbing Richie in the side with an elbow. Richie blinks slowly at him in response before his eyes get a little damp and his cheeks get a little pink. 

“Yeah, he is. Which is why I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind helping me write a poem for him too; you know after we’re done with our homework and everything.” Richie says he ducks his head and wipes his eyes with a sleeve of his shirt, feeling a little overwhelmed about everything that just happened. 

“Sure,” Ben easily agrees to the request with a nod of his head, even though Richie couldn’t see it at that instant. Unknown to both of them, however, was a pair of anguished tear-filled eyes intently watching them from a window in the library.


	4. A Cure For Lovesickness...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a quick flashback because I'm a giant little shit :)

Eddie had meet Richie on the day he had been forced to leave school a little later than usual, thanks to having to make up a test he had missed in one class thanks to being out sick the week before. Richie had been dangling from a fence post that had been jammed forcefully through the back of his shorts, with his lip being slit and a thin trail of blood slowly running down his chin along with a black eye. His glasses had been laying on the ground with a crack in the middle of them and both of the lenses were broken. 

Eddie hadn’t even hesitated to run over to Richie and begin to try and help him off of the fence, steadily ignoring the small flinch Richie had did once he had caught sight of him. It wasn’t until Richie had been safely sitting down on the ground and Eddie had been softly wiping the blood off his face, that Eddie had understood why Richie had been slightly wary of him at first; when he had briefly explained how Bowers and his merry gang of idiots, had ambushed him after school thanks to him mouthing off at Bowers during their shared gym class earlier that day.

“So when I had caught sight of a whole bunch red barreling at me a minute ago, I assumed that they had come back to finish the job,” Richie had said as he slowly stood up and reached for his ruined pair of glasses, once Eddie had finished dabbing at his currently throbbing bottom lip. The other boy had simply shrugged off his words, not at all bothered by the assumption, before he started to rummage in his backpack for something. 

“Soooo… can I know the name of my dashing knight in shining armor?” Richie had drawled as he placed his glasses in one of the pockets in his shorts, before leaning over one of Eddie’s shoulders to try and see what the other boy was trying to look for. 

“Eddie…Kaspbrak,” Eddie had said with a grunt as he started to pull out a thin blue jacket out of his backpack. Once the piece of clothing was in his hands, Eddie had then turned around and started to tie his jacket around a bewildered Richie’s waist. 

“Uh Eds, what are you doing?”

“Don’t call me that, and I’m doing this cause I figured you wouldn’t want the whole wide world to see your ridiculous underwear.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know that Batman is not ridiculous!”

“Well, of course, he isn’t but I know of a lot more impressive heroes than he is,” Eddie had said once he had secured his jacket onto Richie, briefly glancing up at the other boy to catch a glimpse of his wide-eyed surprised face, before stepping back so that he could gather up all of his belongings.

“Oh yeah like who?”

“Shazam for starters.”

“Bullshit!” Richie had yelled with a huge grin on his face while wrapping an arm around Eddie’s shoulders; he had then begun to steer the smaller boy in the opposite direction of where his house was located at.

“Ummmm…”

“Richie, Richie Tozier at your service my good fellow.”

“Um Richie, my house is in the other direction…”

“Oh really? Well, I knew that if you had left your jacket with me, then I would have forgotten all about it the next day, so I figured you walking me home was the best way to make sure that didn’t happen. Plus I wanna know why you think Shazam is so much better than Batman!”


	5. A Cure For Lovesickness (cont.)

Thinking about how his first meeting with Richie had gone only brings, even more, tears to Eddie’s eyes as he’s being aggressively tucked onto his bed by his mother. She is talking a mile a minute about something, but Eddie wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone a word of what she was saying for the life of him, thanks to the fogginess in his head and the ringing in his ears making it pretty hard to focus on anything.

Not to mention the searing pain that’s been in his chest since he had spotted Richie, sitting so close to that other angel in the library. The ache had slowly gotten worse while he had run away to his house with tears of anguish pooling in his eyes, so much so that he had been seconds away from collapsing, the moment he had finally made it to the front porch of his house. That hadn’t stopped him from trying to sneak past his mom, who at that moment in time, had been in her worn down seat in the living room watching something loud on tv, however.

He had almost made it to the haven of his room upstairs without being detected, if it hadn’t been for him forgetting about the second to last step in the stairs being quite loose; so when he had stepped on it the noise had been unfortunately loud enough to get his mother’s attention.

The older demon had wasted no time in stomping up the stairs and dragging him back downstairs, easily ignoring his admittedly weak protests throughout the whole thing. Once they had reached the ground floor she had led him into the kitchen, before beginning to frantically search around in their rather large medicine cabinet.

At that point, a searing heat had started to take over him, as well as the beginnings of the current fogginess in his head. The last real thing Eddie remembers before his brain had been forced off, is his mom harshly jamming a thermometer into his mouth.

* * *

Richie has the envelope containing the poem for Eddie that Ben had helped him write the previous day in his mouth, as he lifts the lower sash of the window located in Eddie’s bedroom, after having spent the last couple of minutes climbing the tree that’s planted at the side of Eddie’s house. After worming his way into the room, the first thing he notices is how cold it is. The chill itself being so severe that it causes him to quickly wrap his arms around himself, after removing the envelope from his mouth and putting it in one of his pants pockets, in a poor attempt to try and warm himself up.

“Eds? Are you in here man?” He whispers and flinches hard when the blanket-covered lump in Eddie’s bed sluggishly starts moving. Eddie’s head soon pops out from under the blanket after a few minutes, and he frankly looks terrible. With hazy bloodshot eyes, limp sweat-drenched hair, deep bags under his eyes, and practically all of the color drained from his face. There was also this unsettling rattling noise coming from him, that Richie took too long to realize was his labored breathing.

An awkward silence soon follows between them, since it seems to take Eddie quite a while to recognize that someone else is in his room with him. “Richie? What…are you…doing…in here?” He eventually asks while having to stop several times, to cough loudly inside a sleeve of the shirt he was wearing.


	6. Is All The Love That I Have For You

“I…have something really important that I have to tell you,” Richie whispers as he walks closer towards Eddie. A series of complicated emotions flash across the other boy’s face for a few seconds at Richie’s answer, before abruptly becoming blank, just as Richie reaches the end of his bed.

“Well, whatever…it is… I…don't want to…hear it,” Eddie manages to say next during another bad coughing fit, the heated glare he shoots Richie while he says all this being surprisingly fierce, considering how unwell he currently looks. His words combined with the look on his face instantly makes Richie freeze on the spot, a lump forming in his throat as he immediately starts assuming the worse.

_‘Oh God did he figure it out?! Does he hate me now?! Oh please don’t hate now Eddie I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you-’_

“-so if you’re here…to let me down easy…then don’t bother cause… I’ve already seen…with my own…two eyes how happy you two are… together and-”

_'Wait what?’_

“What?” Richie suddenly cuts in whatever Eddie was currently talking about, the nerves that were about to overwhelm him swiftly being replaced by a huge wave of confusion. Eddie’s eyes widen, making him look just as confused as Richie feels. This only lasts for a moment though before his shoulders tense up, his body starts to shake, and all the color that had been previously gone from his face suddenly reappears with a vengeance.

“Don’t you dare take me for a fool, Richard!” He practically shrieks and if it wasn’t for the anger rapidly growing inside him, Richie would marvel at how that’s the first thing, Eddie had said so far without coughing once.

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t if you would explain to me what the hell you’re talking about! And don’t call me that!”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about asshole! You having the balls to come here when you already have a boyfriend!”

“I- what the fuck?! No, I don’t! What the hell gave you that idea moron?!”

“Bullshit! I saw you two being all cozy and shit in the library yesterday on my way home from school!”

“In the library after scho-” is all Richie manages to spit out before suddenly doubling over, thanks to suddenly being dominated by an insane laughing fit. He’s thankfully able to tamper down his chuckling after a minute, just in time to see Eddie’s eyes hastily flood with tears.


	7. Is All The Love That I Have For You (Cont.)

The mere sight of seeing Eddie so miserable instantly forces Richie’s mind into autopilot, causing him to all but run over to Eddie and gather him up into a tight hug. The other boy tries to weakly wiggle away from Richie’s embrace for a few seconds, before finally giving in and wrapping his arms around Richie’s waist. And then they just stay like that for a long time, while loud clanging and banging around begins to happen downstairs. When Eddie eventually feels calm enough to remove his face from where it was buried in Richie’s chest, there is a large wet spot now on the front of Richie’s shirt and a thin trail of snot coming from Eddie’s nose. Both things make Eddie grimace and cringe heavily but before he could open his mouth and start to apologize, Richie quickly reaches over to the desk beside Eddie’s bed and snatches up a couple of tissues so that he can gently dab away at the other boy’s nose.

“I really don’t have a boyfriend,” he says quietly as he works, frowning when all Eddie does in response to his words is turn his head to the side once his nose is clean. Richie sighs while he throws the tissues away and then slowly reaches into the pants pocket to retrieve the envelope. “That was just Ben, one of my best friends, who already has a crush on someone else by the way. He was helping me write this for you yesterday when you must have seen us from the window in the library,” he continues as Eddie whips his head back around and immediately zooms in on the envelope. He stays frozen like that for a hot minute before shakily grabbing the envelope out of Richie’s hands. 

The next few moments feel like an eternity for both boys, as Eddie gradually opens the envelope and pulls out the letter that was contained in there. Tears once again rush back into his eyes as he reads the letter little by little, while his whole body begins to violently tremble at the same time.

_Oh Eddie my love_

_You’ve stolen my breath away_

_with your warmth_

_and your kindness_

_and your strength_

_and your beauty_

_every single day since I met you_

_I wish it was possible to spend every day together_

_playing games and_

_watching movies and_

_drawing and_

_listening to music and_

_a whole bunch of other stuff because everything is_

_a thousand times more fun when it’s with you_

_I love you so much my dear_

_Please say that you love me too?_

“I do,” Eddie sobs once he finishes reading the letter “I love too Richie, so so much!” And the fact that Eddie’s haggard appearance promptly starts to fade away with that admission of love, is lost on boys both due to them being too busy hugging each other again to even notice the unexpected development.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions like that Richie. It’s just…when I saw you and Ben looking so comfortable together, it was like my brain just exploded and any rational thoughts just flew away from my head. Gosh, how embarrassing,” Eddie mumbles into Richie’s chest, while eagerly avoiding the damp spot on the other boy’s shirt that he had left there earlier; causing Richie to silently swoon thanks to Eddie’s self-consciousness causing him to blush so bad that the tips of his ears were stained pink. 

“Aw, don’t worry too much about it Eds. Seeing you get so worked up over little old me is actually quite flattering! And besides, I totally would’ve thought the same thing if I had seen you with somebody else like that,” he says while placing a soft kiss on Eddie’s forehead, which only causes the other boy’s blush to darken and spread all the way down to the top of his shoulders.


	8. Lovefool

Dating Richie confuses Eddie somewhat because the way they act out in public and when they’re alone is, almost the same as before they had confessed their mutual love to each other. There’s still an overabundance of “your mom” jokes, Richie still hogs the covers of Eddie’s bed whenever he sneaks into Eddie’s room and stays the night, and he still loves to take something of Eddie’s and hold it out of reach for a couple of minutes with his freakishly long arms. Except now there’s always this noticeable softness in Richie’s face whenever Eddie’s name is so much as mentioned in a conversation, and Eddie can’t help but melt under such sweetness every time he sees it, as well as get horribly embarrassed because according to Stan,

_“Richie has always been like that around you Eddie, you just were too oblivious to ever notice it.”_

Which in hindsight is a pretty fair statement to make Eddie reasons to himself; especially when taking into consideration how had almost died of a broken heart, after making the false assumption that Richie and Ben were in a relationship before realizing what was going on.

Something pointy suddenly hits Eddie in the back of his neck and causes him to flinch slightly, effectively forcing him out of his current train of thought. He blindly waves a hand behind him for a moment before coming into contact with a balled-up piece of notebook paper. A glance behind him confirms that Richie was the culprit responsible for the paper; if the large grin and exaggerated wink the other boy sends him is anything to go by. They were in history class at the moment which was, unfortunately, the only class that they had together; and the teacher was still in the middle of such a slow-moving lecture that even Eddie had begun to find himself tuning it out. 

Once he unfolds the paper Richie had thrown at him, Eddie instantly rolls his eyes with a fond shake of his head.

**‘hey eds, what’s cute and constantly gets red all over? ;) ;) ;) ;)’**

Eddie quickly writes a reply on the paper before rolling it back up and throwing it at Richie. Which is how they begin exchanging notes with each other like a couple of kindergartners for a while.

**_‘Gee idk Rich, you after you eat something spicy?’_ **

**‘looooool! no jackass I was talking about you :(’  
**

**_‘We have a test coming up next week dickwad. Shouldn’t you be taking notes or something right now?’  
_ **

**‘nope, cause I now have a very sweet and considerate boyfriend who will lend me his notes and help me study later on xoxoxo’  
**

**_‘Oh yeah? And what if this boyfriend of yours decides not to?’_   
**

**‘then I’ll just tickle him all over his body until he says yes :) :) :) :)’  
**

**_‘I’d like to see you get close enough to even try it asshole. xo’_ **


	9. Hung Up On You

Aside from Christmas, seeing Eddie constantly being bundled up to a tee every day at school has definitely been one of the highlights of this holiday season so far for Richie. Not that Eddie doesn’t do that every year when it officially starts getting cold outside, but now there’s the bonus of sharing mittens and scarves and even jackets despite Eddie being a bit smaller than him. Sure it’s an easy target of teasing among their friends but Richie doesn’t mind it; especially since Eddie always gets so red and flustered every time someone playfully says anything.

Like today when they picked up Georgie from school and Bill had made a sly remark about how close he and Eddie had been walking together. Thanks to Richie conveniently “forgetting” his scarf at home which quickly prompted Eddie to wrap his scarf around the both of them. While running his mouth a mile a minute about all the various sicknesses he could get from the cold weather, with the flu being the main topic of his rant at that moment. 

Richie hadn’t stop himself from laughing along with the others after Bill’s comment, while Eddie did his signature move of waving one hand in the air while rapidly opening and closing his mouth like a fish. Then before any one of them could see it coming, Eddie had stopped doing that to pick up a random clump of snow, from the sidewalk and flung it straight at Bill. The projectile had hit the other boy right in the face and once Bill had stood still in shock for a moment, he wiped the snow off his face before bending down to quickly start making a snowball.

And even though nobody else was technically involved in Eddie and Bill’s little dispute, that hadn’t stop them from making snowballs as well and start throwing them at each other, even before Bill had finished making his first one. Their snowball fight had been so intense that they hadn’t even noticed when Beverly had walked by them and decided to join in on the fun. It was only when everyone had started to get tried and began to head home that Richie himself had noticed; after seeing Ben and Beverly walk away together even though Ben’s house was located in the opposite direction. 

Not wanting to go home quite just yet Richie had decided to tag along with Bill and Georgie to their house for a little while; after giving Eddie his scarf back and receiving a quick goodbye kiss on his cheek, after both of them had glanced around to make sure nobody else besides their friends was nearby, before Eddie had started to sprint back home as well.

Now he was in Bill’s room, sitting in front of the other boy on his bed and sharing a plate of Christmas themed sugar cookies, that they had gotten from Bill’s mom once they had entered the house (and he had made a quick call to his mom to tell her that he would be home a bit later). Richie had just bitten off the head of a cookie snowman when he once again noticed a tight look on Bill’s face. Which was something he had seen off and on Bill’s face during the walk over to his house; even with Georgie talking both of their ears off the entire time being a very good distraction.

“Alright Big Bill, what’s been eating you ever since the snowball fight?” He asks which causes the other boy to blink owlishly at him for a second, before looking away and focusing his attention on the cookie that was currently in his hand (which was a half-eaten snowflake). 


	10. Hug Up On You ( Cont.)

“Don’t know wh-wh-what you’re ta-talking about, Rich.”

“Oh come on now Bill, you were quiet the whole walk over to your house. And Georgie kept having to call your name, at least two times to get your attention whenever he asked you something.” Richie continues at the same time Bill shoves the rest of his cookie in his mouth; while looking like he was sucking on a lemon the entire time he was chewing. Once he swallows Bill looks down again and begins to play around with his fingers. Not wanting to pressure him, Richie picks up another cookie and begins to eat it slowly while Bill sorts himself out. After a few minutes of relative silence, Bill sighs and stops playing with his fingers.

“You know about the ho-ho-ho-homeschooled ki-ki-kid right?” He eventually asks and Richie nods while shoving the rest of his cookie in his mouth. “He, uh, sa-saved me and Ge-ge-ge-georgie a week a-ago. We had been coming b-back from the st-st-store after getting some stuff our m-m-m-mom had run out of so that she co-co-could make these co-cookies. But as we were le-le-leaving the st-st-store Bowers and his crew had co-come around th-the corner on the street a-a-across from u-us smoking and ta-ta-talking loudly,”.

“Aw shit.”

“Ye-yeah. And of co-co-course, they im-immediately see us and started ma-ma-marching their way over to wh-wh-where we were. So I grabbed Ge-ge-ge-georgie’s hand and the stuff we had br-br-brought and we began to r-run away. But then the ho-ho-ho-homeschooled ki-ki-kid starts co-coming out of the meat shop a few feet a-a-head of us. And since we were r-running so fast we co-co-couldn’t stop o-o-ourselves in time so we e-ended up cra-cra-crashing right into him.” Bill says next and even though it’s not exactly warranted, Richie, can’t help but chuckle at the image Bill’s painting with his words; even when that earns him a half-hearted hit on one of his arms from the other boy.

“Okay let me guess what happens next! The homeschooled kid helps you guys up, see Bowers and his cronies, and then out of the goodness of his hearts helps you and Georgie escape; by putting you two up on his bike and riding away, like a knight riding away with a rescued princess on his trusty stead while running away from a fearsome dragon?”

“Beep beep Richie,” Bill mumbles before shoving Richie off his bed when the other boy erupts and starts laughing loudly. “I wa-want to in-in-invite him to join our gro-gro-group. So-so-so-something just felt ri-right about him,” Bill goes on to say, glad that Richie can’t see his swiftly blushing cheeks as he says the last part, from where he’s still sprawled out on the floor. He soon sees the other boy give him a thumbs up from his side of the bed as his answer and he smiles; glad to have him on board before he talks about the whole situation with the others.


	11. A Friend In Need

Even though Mike knows he’s going to regret it later, he plops down exhausted onto the muddy ground. His bike has been stuck in said mud for at least thirty minutes now and no matter how many times he tugs or pushes on his bike nothing happens. Especially since the front wheel is now stuck in between two rocks after Mike, had finally managed to move the bike the _tiniest_ bit with his last push before he had sat down. The whole situation is bad enough on its own but now it’s starting to get dark and the wind is starting to pick back up again. After he had helped a boy and his little brother get away from Bowers and his merry band of lunatics, Mike sped away to his own home after the boy and his brother had safely made it inside their house. 

But while he had been pedaling a squirrel had randomly run across the street in front of him. Mike had tried his best to swerve around it but thanks to how fast he had been going, he had crashed straight into the woods which landed him into his current predicament. The only regret Mike has about the whole situation is that he didn’t get the name of the two angels before rushing away from them. 

A sudden crunching sound coming from behind him has Mike instantly on his feet, worried that Bowers or one of his henchmen had stumbled upon him, despite how unwise it would be to be outside right now. But his worries turned out to be in vain however when the mystery person turns out to be a pretty angel instead. Thanks to the moonlight starting to peek between the gaps in the trees surrounding them, Mike can tell that the angel’s eyes are light brown and her skin tone is beige. Her hair is a slightly darker brown that almost matches the color of her eyes, as he could tell by the many curls that had escaped from under the white hat the girl is wearing. She is wearing a white coat as well along with white gloves and white boots; her wings were also white with random red dots and splashes of crimson among the feathers that eerily looked like slash marks. She has a navy blue bag slung across her chest and is holding a rather thick black book in her hands. 

“Hi, my name is Patty Blum. Do you need some help over there?” The angel, Patty, asks him and Mike startles enough that his tail starts wiggling behind him just a little bit, since the softness of her voice had started echoing around them thanks to how quiet it was at that moment. Mike clears his throat awkwardly in response before beginning to rub the back of his neck.

“Uh yeah, I do actually. When I was riding my bike back to my house, a squirrel had popped out into the road in front of me. And I had landed over here when I tried to go around it thanks to how fast I had been going,” he says while Patty begins to take off her bag and place it on the ground where she had already placed the book she had been carrying in her hands. By the time Mike thinks to warn her about all the mud near him, Patty has already started making her way over to where he’s standing; the only sign showing that she had noticed the mud herself was a brief grimace down at her shoes while she was walking. She lets out a small whistle once she’s close enough to see just how stuck his bike is, into the ground and in between the rocks before putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head to the side.

She stays like that for only a few minutes before straightening herself back up and snapping her fingers once. “I got it! How about I push the front of the bike while you pull on the end of it?” She asks and Mike simply nods to show his acceptance of her idea. They then get into the positions Patty had just described and begin to get to work, and thankfully his bike finally seems to be budging at long last! And once it’s completely freed from the rocks and the mud Mike can’t help but rush up to Patty and engulf into a tight grateful hug; hell he can even feel his tail quickly wrap around her waist as well. 

Patty flinches a little at his unexpected reaction but swiftly returns the hug nonetheless with a tiny amused chuckle. Once they pull apart and Patty gathers up all of her stuff Mike insists that Patty lets him walk her home; not wanting anything bad to happen to her if they were to part ways, especially since it’s now become completely dark outside. Patty agrees and then they head off into the direction of her home.

“So how come you were outside so late in the evening anyway?”

“Oh, well I had checked out and began reading the book here in my hands in the library and had lost track of time. My friend Audra had recommended it to me a while ago. I’m not the biggest fan of horror books but Audra was so persistent about getting me to read this book that I finally gave in today. And I’m willing to admit that it’s pretty good so far! I already know that I’m never going to be able to look at clowns the same way again once I finish the book though…”


	12. No Boys Allowed

It’s days like today that make Beverly wonder if Greta and Bowers are secretly related or something. The only thing that makes her doubt this particular theory, is the fact that Bowers is nowhere near as creative as Greta can be when she puts her mind to something. The rather colorful attack that Greta had orchestrated today, was her and her little entourage throwing multiple balloons at Beverly, just as she was leaving out the science class she has right before lunch. But instead of being filled with water the balloons had been filled with mud. So by the time the bullies were done with their onslaught, she had been covered head to toe in thick runny sludge; except for her face thanks to her quickly putting the binder she had been carrying, at the time in front of her face right after the first balloon had been thrown.

 _‘At least it hadn’t been wet smelly garbage this time’_ Beverly reckons as a smooth dainty hand suddenly grabs one of her wrists from behind, while the rest of the students that had been in the class quickly rush past her and the person behind her. “Oh my goodness, are you alright?!” The person asks Beverly as she turns around to face them, once the last student finally scurries past them. Once Beverly gets a good look at the person who is still holding onto her wrist, she almost does a double-take not because of the girl being an angel, but because she has a pair of brown eyes so big that they nearly put Eddie’s to shame.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Especially since I’ve seen worse than this,” Beverly tells the other girl calmy with a tiny shrug, before giving her wrist a brief pointed look. The girl follows her gaze and blushes hard before swiftly letting go of her.

“Ah, I’m so sorry! I just didn’t want you to run off upset after being so horrifically embarrassed like that in front of so many people! Especially since I’m no stranger to being messed with like that either. For example, one time during the art class I’m taking right now someone had put a glob of red paint, on the stool I had been sitting on after I had gotten up to wash off the paintbrush I had been using. Which had been unfortunate for me because I had been wearing a new white skirt that day, so when I had come back-”

“It had looked like you had started your period,” Beverly finishes with a grimace while the other girl bows her head and nods; while her cheeks start to blush a dark splotchy red thanks to remembering the humiliating memory. It doesn’t feel right to just stand there awkwardly in front of the other girl while she’s clearly in distress, especially since she chose to stay back and make sure, that Beverly herself was okay after the ambush from Greta and her followers. But interacting with other girls has never been one of Beverly’s strong suits, unfortunately. 

Plus other things are starting to catch her attention now, like how the mud she’s covered with is slowly starting to dry up and now her skin is starting to get itchy in response. As well as the almost constant buzzing coming from her phone, that’s been snugly stashed away in one of the pockets in her jeans, that’s been happening ever since the halfway point of the girl’s story; that is without a doubt occurring thanks to the rest of the losers, wondering where in the world she’s at right now especially since-

"Patty, there you are! God, I’ve been looking all over this dump for you! We were supposed to be working on our presentation for history during lunch today remember? But now we won’t be able to do anything today since lunch ends in about thirty minutes!” Another girl says as she comes around the corner towards them. Unlike the other girl, Patty, this new girl is a demon like Beverly with a cream-colored tail and horns that also have random golden flecks scattered all over them. Her is tangerine in color and was cut short to the middle of her neck, her skin is pale and her eyes are brown like a piece of gingerbread. She is wearing a lime green dress along with a pair of blue shorts, black combat boots adorn her feet, small round yellow stud earrings are in her ears, and her nails are painted with lilac nail polish. She has a clear backpack on her back and is carrying a large white poster board in her hands.

While the other girl heads towards them Patty’s head snaps up and her eyes widen in surprise. She then starts to meet the other girl halfway with her hands waving widely in front of her and her mouth moving a mile a minute. “Oh shoot Audra, I’m so sorry! I was going to meet up with you I swear! But when I was leaving my science class-”

“A couple of girls had caught me off guard with a prank. And while everyone else had left, Patty stayed behind to make sure I was alright afterward and we kinda lost track of time. Sorry about all the confusion that must have caused you!” Beverly rushes to say to Audra, not wanting Patty to get the blame for everything. Audra immediately looks in Beverly’s direction at the sound of her voice and her eyes narrow once she takes in how pathetic the other demon still looks at the moment.

“Let me guess, head bitch Greta and her airheaded henchmen?” She asks matter of factly with a sigh, as if she already knows the answer to her question, but is just asking out loud anyway to be polite. Once Beverly nods Audra shakes her head, hands Patty the poster board, and then swiftly grabs one of Beverly’s hands. “Is it safe to assume that you have a change of clothes stuffed into your locker right?” She asks and once Beverly nods again Audra starts dragging her in the direction she had previously come from, wth Patty trailing closely behind them. “Okay well once we get those clothes, we’re going to the bathroom to get you as clean as we possibly can alright? And in return, you can help me and Patty finish up with our project. Is that a deal?” Audra proposes and Beverly accepts just as her phone starts to ring. 


	13. You Are So Beautiful To Me

Eddie had been sitting in his bed, steadily reading a book recently assigned in his English class, when Richie had wormed his way into his bedroom from a window. This is nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that this time Richie had been whining about his back hurting, thanks to his wings being in desperate need of grooming. Eddie hadn’t hesitated to stop reading his book before quietly beckoning Richie over to his bed, so that he could start taking care of the problem; which hadn’t taken more than an hour thanks to Richie’s wings being so small. Now Richie’s curled up sideways on Eddie’s bed with his head on the other boy’s lap fast asleep, while Eddie goes back to reading his book from earlier.

“You’re drooling all over my pants you know,” Eddie whispers to Richie, while he carefully removes Richie’s glasses, from his face and then places them next to the lamp on the nightstand beside his bed. The other boy’s only response is a particularly loud snore, before he rolls over to bury his face into Eddie’s stomach. At that moment Eddie can’t stop himself from running one of his hands gently through Richie’s hair, marveling at how soft and relaxed Richie’s face always looks when he’s sleeping. “ I wish you could look at ease like this all the time,” Eddie continues while he puts the book back down so that he can now run both of his hands through Richie’s hair.

Despite the heat now blooming across his face, Eddie leans down and places a kiss on the middle of Richie’s forehead; and after a quick fight with himself, musters up enough courage to swiftly kiss Richie on the lips. The kiss itself is nothing extravagant, just a brief press of their lips together really, but that doesn’t stop Eddie from immediately getting flustered and covering up his face with his hands once he straightens himself back up. Things only get worse when he works up enough nerve to uncover his face, for a second and then sees Richie tenderly gazing up at him with a blazing look in his eyes.

* * *

Eddie always feels slightly silly during the mornings after Richie stays over for a night; because even though he knows that he’ll be able to see the other boy again soon, a part of him always feels like he’ll die the moment Richie’s completely out of his sight. Richie currently isn’t improving his state of mind either, with the way he’s bending over so that he can hide his face into Eddie’s neck while holding the smaller boy in a tight hug.

“This is so ridiculous. We’re literally going to see each other in a few hours at school,” Eddie mumbles even though he’s gripping onto Richie just as hard. 

“Mmm, that’s too far away though. Wanna stay here with you Eddie,” is Richie’s equally hushed reply and Eddie can’t help but sigh heavily in disappointment, right before a sudden loud snore rips throughout the house, coming from his mother’s bedroom which easily reminds them exactly why that would be a very bad idea. They both freeze and then stand rigidly in each other’s arms for a few seconds before going limp when nothing happens. With his deep sigh, Richie slowly steps out of Eddie’s embrace so that he can quickly reach under the other boy’s bed, and get the grocery bag filled with the old feathers that had fallen from his wings while Eddie had groomed them last night.

When Richie has the window he always uses to sneak into Eddie’s room at night open and one leg over the stool, is the part where Eddie finds himself suddenly holding onto one of Richie’s arms to stop him. Richie whips his head around to look at the other boy while he takes his leg off of the window stool. “Eddie-” he begins to say but is immediately caught off guard, when Eddie moves to the tips of his toes so that he can briefly press his lips onto Richie’s. The kiss is exactly like the one they had shared last night, a swift compress of their lips together, but that doesn’t stop them from getting just as flustered as they had after the first time. Richie’s eyes are as wide as saucers, his cheeks are pink, and the smile now on his face is large and goofy; the sight of him looking so smitten has Eddie’s heart immediately do wild somersaults in his chest, while his face easily transforms into something equally as lovey-dovey. 

“Do it again! Do it again!” Richie chants eagerly in a low tone of voice, even going as far as to start pumping both of his arms in the air in excitement. Eddie’s heart now seems to be swelling to impossible sizes with all the love he has for this unbelievable boy, as he shakes his head and starts to lightly push on Riche’s back, in an attempt to steer him towards the window again.

“ No can do, you gotta get back home as soon as possible remember?” He says and has to bite down on the inside of his cheek, to stop himself from bursting out into laughter when his words cause Richie to whine _a lot._

 _“Uhhhhhhhhhh, but Eds, pleeeeeeease?!”_ He says as he plants his feet firmly onto the ground to keep himself away from the window. He then drops the bag containing his old feathers onto the ground before turning around and putting his hands on Eddie’s hips. His puppy dog eyes are in full effect now and his bottom lip starts to tremble for a bit; Eddie only playfully resists for a good five seconds before finally giving in and planting another sweet kiss onto Richie’s lips.


	14. Fumbling

Bill’s not quite sure about what compels him towards wanting to become a writer. Or an entertainer in general really, especially since that line of work is more competitive than others; and outside of the rest of the losers and his family, he’s never been particularly good at gaining other people’s attention for too long. If he were to sit down and really think about it, he guesses it all comes down to wanting to make other people happy, or at the very least distract them from their worries for a little while. Like whenever he used to tell Georgie story’s when his brother used to sneak into his room at night, after being frightened by something in his room like imaginary monsters hiding in his closet, when he was a lot younger but just on a larger scale.

It’s that very desire that motivates him to practice his writing technique whenever he has the time to do so, like on the rare occasions he travels to the library, to check out a few books for inspiration as well as to just soak in the overall quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the place. It’s on one of these outings that runs into the homeschooled kid again; who’s casually browsing the shelves of the horror section of books available for kids when he walks into the library. He seems to be trying to decide between the two books in his hands, judging by how his eyebrows were furrowed deep in concentration. 

Just looking at him has Bill’s mind going blank while his entire face, rapidly starts turning a very deep shade of red that could rival a tomato. Richie’s words about comparing the situation where the homeschooled kid had helped him and Georgie escape Bowers and his gang that one time, to a knight saving a princess from a dragon start ringing in his head at n alarmingly volume which only makes things worse. As in, he gets so distracted that he accidentally steps on the loose shoelaces of one of his shoes, trips, and ends up falling face-first onto the (thankfully) carpeted floor all the bookshelves were located on. His nose doesn’t feel broken, thank goodness, but it’s bleeding pretty heavily down his chin and onto his shirt as he slowly sits up.

“Holy shit, are you alright?!” He hears someone frantically ask him, and when he turns his head to the side he sees the homeschooled kid speeding towards him. As he gets closer Bill can see that the other boy is carrying a handkerchief in his hands, which is quickly pressed onto his nose as his head is gently tilted backward. Bill is silently glad because as soon as he would’ve seen, one person looking over in their direction he knows he would’ve died on the spot. His humiliation only grows stronger when the other boy says, “Wow, this certainly is a way to crash into each other again, don’t you think so?” in what is a cleary Richie style way to cheer him up.

And his words do work on him a little bit, enough for him to force out a tiny sounding “Yeah,” with what he hopes isn’t a grimace on his face. Soon after a couple of more minutes, Bill’s nose seems to have finally stopped bleeding and then the homeschooled kid removes the handkerchief from his nose, before moving to sit down on the floor in front of him criss-cross apple sauce style. He then holds his hand out in front of Bill, and it takes a few embarrassing seconds for Bill, to realize that the other boy wants to shake hands with him. Once Bill finally gets with the program the other boy smiles; and Bill gets so besotted by how soft it makes his face look (Christ he even has _dimples)_ that he almost misses it when he says, “Hi, I’m Mike Hanlon. And you are?”

“Bil, Bil De-denbrough. Thanks for l-l-last time.”

“No problem, I was happy to help in any way that I could!”


	15. Babylove

Patty has been somewhat of a disturbance in school throughout the years from a very young age. Which happened to be one memorable time in kindergarten, when she had intentionally put glue on her hands during art and crafts time, just because she had been curious about what it would feel like. The trouble had come from her accidentally spilling glue on another child’s drawing, which had ended up with her down one friend for the rest of the day; and the teacher removing one gold star from her section of the class behavior chart. 

Nowadays it seems to happen because she just can’t concentrate in class like other kids can, instead of pure ignorance like before. Her best solution for this has just been to doodle in her notes while a teacher is talking. And if any of them notice how her attention seems to be split between them and something else, they don’t care enough to give her much hell over it, especially since her grades haven’t dropped yet because of it. Except for in her psychology class today when her teacher made a point to stop right in the middle of his lecture, to loudly call her out on her doodling to the amusement of a few other students, who hadn’t tried to hide their snickering at her being publicly shamed. Soon, the class had continued normally after that as if nothing had even happened and when it had ended, she was one of the first people out of the room with tears pooling in her eyes and her whole body shaking.

She begins heading outside to sit at one of the tables located near the second entrance into the cafeteria, where she intends to wait for everyone else to get done with their last classes of the day too while she calms down. A gentle hand being placed on her shoulder stops her when she makes it halfway towards her destination, however, and when she turns around she sees Stanley standing a few inches behind her rummaging through his bookbag for something. What he had been looking for ends up being a couple of tissues he then uses to lightly wipe away the tears from her eyes and clean up the rest of her face. “Thank you,” Patty whispers once he’s finished, suddenly feeling exhausted after everything which thankfully doesn’t give her, too much room to feel embarrassed about being caught in such a messy state of mind like that.

“No problem,” is Stan’s simple reply before he takes one of her hands with that same gentleness from before, and walks with her the rest of the way outside. They soon find a clean unoccupied table not too far away and sit down, and as if on autopilot she quickly starts to drum her hands onto the table. Stan, who had chosen to sit across from her at the table, takes one good look at her before starting to search in his bag for something again. This time after a few minutes of looking Stan pulls out a notebook and two pens. He slides the blue pen over the table to her while he keeps the black one for himself before opening up the notebook to a random blank page. “How about you be xs and I’ll be os?” He asks her while drawing out the standard grid for tic tac toe on the piece of notebook paper; Patty nods as Stan then moves the notebook in the middle of the table for easier access.

Afterward, once the other losers slowly start to trickle out of the school building, tic tac toe quickly transforms into making sloppy origami figures when Ben finds her and Stan first. And then they begin making up wild stories with said figures and regular drawings on paper when Richie finds them next; while he uses a variety of voices, each more ridiculous than the last one, before starting to sing “background music” in a loud voice that is incredibly off-key once everyone else joins them too. Patty hadn’t planned on singing along with Richie but when he offers her one of his earbuds, she occasionally finds herself softly crooning next to him on a song. And if she starts to sing a bit louder after Stan tells her she has a wonderful voice, well, that was nobody else’s business but her own.


	16. Mama Just Killed A Man

Eddie’s scales start to come in a few days after new years. They sprout all over his arms, legs, shoulders, the tops of his feet, and around the top of his chest and the sides of his stomach. Some even extend down his back, hands, and his fingers, which does make it a little hard to write and hold things for more than a few minutes. They’re all colored black like tiny pieces of coal and are no bigger than the size of a penny. He ends up staying covered in them for a week before waking up one day before school, with his skin suddenly bare and all of his scales surrounding him in his bed. Eddie’s brain immediately fills with static as he slowly looks around and takes in the sight of his scattered scales. He gathers a few up in his hands and just stares at them for a while in utter befuddlement, before jumping out of his bed and all but sprinting downstairs and into the kitchen.

He doesn’t plan on it but halfway down the stairs his body unconsciously slows down so that by the time he makes it to the kitchen, he’s walking normally and when he speaks his voice is nearly a whisper, when he says “Mommy?” unlike with anybody else his voice would be noticeably louder thanks to his deep confusion at the moment. His mother hums in answer to his question as she twists the top half of her body to face him. He can’t see what she’s currently doing at the stove, but he smells eggs and bacon and sees a mixing bowl sitting on a counter beside her which make alarm bells start to fiercely ring in the back, of his head since she only cooks a full breakfast whenever she’s _happy_ about something. And whenever his mother is that type of _happy_ it deeply unsettles him such as the time Browers, broke one of his arms during the summer and his mother eagerly turned away his friends, when they came to visit him in the hospital as if they were the ones who had done the deed instead.

“What is it Eddie-bear, are you feeling are alright? Your face looks awfully red…” Sonia says as she quickly switches the stove off and hurries over to Eddie, one of her hands zooming down to Eddie’s forehead as if to check for a fever. Eddie makes sure to take a small step backward however before her hand can make contact, and the movement seems to catch Sonia’s attention to the scales still sitting in Eddie’s cupped hands. She then straightens herself back up before letting out quite the high pitched gasp in surprise, and then even goes so far as to clap her hands together three times in excitement. A familiar fire starts to fill her eyes as well as she snatches up the cluster of scales in Eddie’s hands, before beginning to head up the stairs to presumably go to his room to get the rest of them. Eddie’s quick to follow her back upstairs, while a chill starts to race up his spine as his calls of Sonia’s name keep getting ignored in her almost trance-like state.

It’s only when Sonia makes it to Eddie’s room and collects the rest of his scales that, she finally seems to notice that he’s now standing in the doorway watching her with naked unease, swirling in his eyes and a punishing grip on the door frame with one of his hands while his other one hangs limply at his side. “Oh, honey there’s no need to look so frightened! This just means that you’ve finally matured!” Sonia says in a sickeningly sweet tone as she walks over to Eddie, to put a comforting hand on one of his shoulders, after shuffling his scales into her unoccupied hand. Unfourtanely, her proximity does nothing to calm down Eddie’s nerves, and it takes the boy a few minutes to muster up enough courage to ask Sonia what exactly does she mean by that.

“Well, I guess that the best analogy for this is that if you were a girl you would be having your first period right about now,” Sonia continues after a moment of thinking, chuckling softly when Eddie can’t help but grimace a little at the comparison, considering that he’s very familiar with the subject thanks to having three friends who were girls. ”Instead of being miserable for a couple of weeks I get use these scales of yours here to help create a neat little cloak!” Sonia says next while she moves away from Eddie and heads towards her bedroom now.

“But what’s the point of doing that, Momma?” Eddie calls after her, as he finally lets go of the doorframe while watching her walk away from him. If this was anybody else he would swiftly follow after them, but there’s always been something _off_ about his mother’s room that makes him hesitant to follow after her.

“So that you can give it to the lucky girl you start dating soon, as a courtship gift!” Is Sonia’s overjoyed response to Eddie’s question and while she puts his scales away into a glass jar that’s sitting on her dresser, Eddie thanks his lucky stars that her back is turned away from him so that, she can’t see the brief frown that crosses his face at the mention of him having a girlfriend. Before fantasies of Richie proudly showing off a sparkly red cloak with his scales decorating it quickly dominates his thoughts.


	17. Mother Knows Best

Eddie’s day does get better after that rather chilling experience with his mother that morning, mainly due to the discovery that after his scales had fallen off of him during the night new thinner ones had taken their place. They were wine-colored and even glimmered faintly depending on how he turned his body next to a light source. In fact, Eddie had spent a good five minutes in front of the mirror, above the sink in the bathroom located in the hallway near his bedroom, eagerly examining himself after brushing his teeth. And after a few minutes of pondering his new appearance while he had taken a shower, Eddie had found that he liked how different he looked now. He liked how _free_ his new looks made him feel, similar to how he felt whenever Richie would call him “Eds”. It was like he now had a new identity, and could do and say whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, thanks to some unknown barrier being lifted away from him. And once he had gotten to school, his good mood only grew with everyone wasting no time in complimenting him on how he looked, right after Richie had taken one long look at him and exclaimed, “Woah Eds my boy, did you do something different to your hair?! Cause it looks great!”

However, all of that comes crashing down when he comes home that evening. It starts when he notices that the table in the dining room is all set up, with a white fancy table cloth decorated with lace, four chairs, and his mother’s dinnerware china set that’s decorated with blue hibiscus. And then it only gets worse when he heads upstairs and finds Sonia in her bedroom, standing by the full-length mirror near her closet, putting on her third favorite pair of pearl earrings and the matching necklace and bracelets. They’re all pink in color and contrast nicely with the glittery black dress, Sonia’s wearing along with a pair of black opaque tights. The curlers that are usually in her hair are out now, and when Sonia turns her head around when Eddie timidly, calls out to her from the hallway her hair noticeably bounces with the movement. “Ah, there you are dear!” She exclaims before glancing at the clock that sits on the nightstand on the left side of her bed. “And you have just enough time to get ready before our guests arrive tonight!” She continues before opening up her closet and beginning to search the bottom of it, presumably for a suitable pair of shoes to go along with her outfit.

“Um, who are the people coming over here?” Eddie asks quietly while he slowly walks into his mother’s room. He only makes it a few inches inside the room before his discomfort makes him freeze completely in his tracks. Thankfully it only takes his mother a couple of minutes to find a pair of shoes that she likes, before closing her closet back up again and then grabbing one of Eddie’s stiff hands with one of her own. Next, she guides them both to sit on the edge of her bed, places the shoebox in her other hand on the ground, and then takes hold of both Eddie’s hands in hers. 

Sonia’s looking at him straight in his eyes when she says, “ Honey, do you remember when a man had gotten killed at the town carnival a while back? Thrown over a bridge after being beaten up very badly?” She asks him and the question confuses Eddie greatly. It isn’t because he doesn’t remember the incident she’s referring to because he most certainly does. In fact, it always fills him with this sort of deep smoldering anger, like that time Richie had called him in tears after being harassed by Bowers and his cousin at the arcade. “Well, the reason that man was targeted that day was because he was quite sick Eddie,” Sonia continues and it’s only thanks to years of practice that Eddie’s able to keep his face perfectly blank and his outrage silently to himself.

 _(No it’s because Derry is filled to the brim with evil homophobic assholes)_ He thinks but makes himself nod to his mother regardless. Sonia squeezes Eddie’s hands with a small smile on her face when he does before saying, “Which is why I’m so concerned about your health all the time sweetheart, because being attacked like that is one of the last things I ever want to happen to you. But since medicine can only do so much, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands to make sure that you’re well for the rest of your life; by setting you up with the very nice girl that moved into the neighborhood recently down a few blocks from us.” 

The “very nice girl” in question is named Myra and Eddie has quite a complicated relationship with her, ever since he had been tasked with chaperoning her around on her first day of school.


	18. Lion Heart

Eddie opens his mouth to try and explain this to his mother, but before he can get one word out, she's already letting go of his hands and removing herself from the bed. She reaches down to pick up the shoebox she had set down on the floor earlier, and then stands back up so that she can briefly kiss him in the middle of his forehead. "I love you, Edward," Sonia says quietly afterward while Eddie stares into her eyes, and the longer this moment goes on for the damper his own eyes become.

_(If that's true then why are you doing this? Why are you so determined to have so much control move me?)_ Eddie thinks to himself in despair, much too cowardly to say the words out loud; especially thanks to how proud of herself his mother clearly is about coming up with this harebrained scheme of hers. So when Sonia leaves him sitting pitifully on the edge of the bed, and goes back downstairs to finish setting everything up he doesn't even try to stop her.

* * *

Once his mother is completely out of his line of sight, Eddie hastily rubs at the moisture around his eyes and then takes a slow deep breath. He bites his bottom as he glances around the entirety of his Sonia's room, frantic for something to jump out at him and show him a way to get out of this mess.

When that proves to be unhelpful Eddie hops off his the bed and gets on his hands and knees so that he can quickly peer under it, and that's when he finds it, a large blue box with a grease-colored ribbon tied around it positioned quite far away from him; in fact, it's so distant that It takes a bit of stretching to reach the box and drag it toward himself, but once he successes in freeing the box out from under the bed Eddie eagerly unties the ribbon and removes the lid to reveal a thick simmering lump of crimson fabric. While gradually unraveling the cloth a deep feeling of awe starts to well up inside him the minute he sees all of his old black scales carefully stitched into it to create a wave pattern.

His cloak is a heavy solid weight in his hands that suddenly makes this whole situation seem _real_ in a way that it hadn't before now. He actually lives in a world where a pretty unassuming garment has enough power to decide how happily he lives his life in the future, living with someone he's pretty sure is the love of his life (his goddamn _soulmate_ ), or unhappily tied down with someone his mother is forcibly pairing him up with in a very misguided attempt to "protect him". 

_“So that you can give it to the lucky girl you start dating soon, as a courtship gift!”_ Is what his mom had gleefully exclaimed when explaining the importance of his cloak to him after discovering that his old scales had finally fallen off him one night while he slept, and as Eddie stares down at it he remembers the tiny fantasies he had at the time about giving the item to Richie instead of some random faceless girl. Those daydreams had made him feel so giddy, so absolutely smitten, about the possibility of seeing the other boy wear a tangible representation of how much Eddie wholeheartedly adored him. 

"Holy shit," Eddie whispers to himself as the solution to his current dilemma abruptly comes to him in a rush, as if someone had just dashed up to him and unexpectedly threw up a ton of disgusting sticky black goo all over him. He swiftly puts his cloak back into the blue box and reties the ribbon around it before jumping to feet and hurrying to his room; he then dumps everything out of his school backpack on top of his bed so that he can carefully place the box inside. Next, he puts on one of his hoodies and a pair of shoes before putting on the backpack and heading over to the only window in his room. 

"Well here goes nothing," he says while opening the window and beginning to cautiously climb over it. He's currently on an important mission and he's not going to let his uncertainty about the practicality of doing something like this of all things get in the way of that, not when he has so much to lose if his mother ends up getting her way.


	19. You're My Everything, I Want You

When Richie enters his room after he finishes getting ready for bed in the bathroom, he immediately locks eyes with Eddie, who's perched carefully on the window sill, knocking cautiously on the glass with one of his hands. Richie eagerly dashes to the window and rushes to open it up for his boyfriend, who in return practically jumps into his arms with so much force that he stumbles and falls hard onto the floor. "Holy shit Eds," the angel says breathlessly with a soft laugh as he lands on his back, the slight pain coming from bumping his head on the ground not enough to distract him from the demon's pleasant weight in his arms. 

"Sorry, it's just really good to see you," Eddie says in a small voice, sniffling as Richie lifts himself up into a sitting position, refusing to raise his head up from where he has it buried deep into his boyfriend's chest; his tail even tightly wrapping itself around the angel's waist. The demon's distress causes a lump to wedge itself inside Richie's throat that he fails to swallow down as he puts one of his hands under the backpack, Eddie's currently wearing so that he can slowly rub the other boy's back in a soothing manner.

"You sure about that babe? Cause I'm getting some mixed messages here," Richie tries to joke, which earns him a wet sounding chuckle as Eddie finally sits back far enough so that they can be face to face; there's a tiny but genuine smile on the demon's face, which grows when the angel leans down to sweetly press his forehead against his boyfriend's forehead. This causes Eddie to sigh while closing his eyes, the tension he was carrying within himself draining out of him in a rush, his whole body instantly relaxing against the other boy's body as if he were a balloon someone had just poked to let the air out of. Richie copies the gesture, which leads to them simply basking in the presence of each other for some time without saying one word to each other. 

"Richie?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something...incredibly important I really need to give to you right now." 

The seriousness In Eddie's voice combined with the swift return of all the tension he had been previously holding onto, stuns Richie into complete stillness, not fighting what so ever when the demon reluctantly untangles himself from the angel's comforting embrace; he then quickly removes his backpack and moves the item onto his lap, before opening it up and removing the large blue box with a grease-colored ribbon tied around it that's contained inside of it. Richie's eyes widen in surprise as he stares down at the box, especially when he notices how hard Eddie's hands are shaking while holding onto the package.

The air around them was already filled with tenderness, a sort of warmth that automatically blooms ferociously inside of both boys every time they see one another. But suddenly the atmosphere feels deeply, unbearably, intimate on a level unfamiliar to both boys, so much so that Richie soon finds himself trembling just as much as Eddie is right now. The angel reaches over to place his hands on top of where the demon's hands are placed on the sides of the box as a way to steady himself, sharing quivering smiles with his boyfriend.

"When demons find their soulmates they create a courtship gift that's supposed to symbolize their neverending passion and devotion to that person, and Richie Tozier...in my mind and in my heart... you're the only person I can ever see myself being with for the rest of my life. You're the other half of my soul and I wouldn't feel complete without you," Eddie whispers each and every word delicately after roughly clearing his throat, too afraid to shatter this monumental moment in any way possible, while tears messily run down his face. Richie's not doing much better either, his entire composure been broken into pieces since the halfway point of the other boy's speech, his thoughts swirling chaotically around inside his head.

"Eddie, are you absolutely sure, that you want to give something so significant...to me?" the angel softly asks while trying his best to wipe his tears away with one of the sleeves of the t-shirt he's wearing, the fragileness of his overall demeanor causing everything keeping the demon together in one piece to just _melt._

_"_ Yes, Richie, there's literally no one else in the entire world that I could ever love as much as I love you," Eddie firmly answers while swiping away at his own tears, adoration for Richie relentlessly pouring out of him in wave after wave; in fact, there was so much of it that Richie actually feels a little lightheaded as he lets go of the other boy's hands to open up the box, unable to hold in the gasp that leaps out of his mouth the minute he looks at the shimmering crimson-colored cloak located inside of it.


	20. Oh My Darling Dear, I Want You Too

Eddie always knew that actually seeing Richie wearing his cloak would sweep him off his feet, but even with that kind of foresight, nothing could have properly prepared him for this exact moment in time. He's positively _swooning_ , body melting onto the floor into a lovestruck puddle with giant hearts in his eyes, while he watches the angel delicately cover himself with the piece of clothing. Once Richie's done fastening the cloak around his neck by using the large black button sewn onto the garment, he clears his throat before starting to nervously rub at the back of his neck with his right hand. "So, uh, how do I look?" he asks quietly while averting his eyes away from Eddie's intense gaze. Instead of answering verbally, the demon reaches up to gently cradle Richie's face in his hands. 

He kisses the angel sweetly on his left cheek, taking great delight in how that immediately gets Richie blushing hard in response, his whole face turning an endearing shade of red. " _Eddie_ ," the other boy whines as his boyfriend continues to place loving kisses all over his face rather than answer his question; by the time the demon kisses him on the lips, the angel can't help but chuckle loudly, feeling incredibly giddy over how much affection Eddie is continuously showering him with. 

"You look so beautiful Richie," Eddie says with a smile after their kiss, his eyes warm and his voice filled with awe. He opens his mouth to say something else but then closes it back up just as quickly, the pure joy surrounding him draining away in a flash. The abrupt change in his boyfriend's mood is startling, and before Richie can ask him what's wrong, Eddie's already standing and gathering up his backpack and the box the cloak had been in.

"Eddie?!" Richie cries out in alarm while also getting up from the floor, quickly grabbing onto one of the demon's wrists to stop him from leaving out of the window. "What's the matter? Why are you trying to leave all of a sudden? I...I thought...that you were gonna sleepover tonight..."

* * *

Eddie wants to, _desperately_ , but the longer he hangs around the more he'll get caught up in Richie and eventually forget all about his mother and Myra and this whole sham of trying to force them to be in a relationship. Which unfortunately means that he has to leave now no matter how much he doesn't want to, the confusion and sadness in his boyfriend's voice making the situation even harder, especially when he turns back around and gets a full view of the heartbroken expression on the angel's face. "Richie I'm so sorry, I want to stay, I really do! But...there's this thing going on right now with my mom that...I...have to deal with right now," he explains to Richie while grasping both of the other boy's hands with his own, hoping that the angel can see the sorrow coloring his expression and know that he's telling the absolute truth. 

He doesn't have to worry for a second though because like always Richie can read him perfectly, the tense expression on his face softening in the blink of an eye. His boyfriend gives his hands one big reassuring squeeze and then bonks their foreheads together with a tiny grin on his face. "Okay, but promise me that if you ever need any help you'll call me alright?" he asks and all at once Eddie feels extremely at ease thanks to the angel's unconditional support. When he gives the other boy a small nod in response Richie gives his hands another squeeze before letting them go, right before he turns around and hurries over to a wooden desk and chair that's located in a corner of his room. Eddie watches silently as his boyfriend opens up and rummage around in one of the drawers inside the desk, grumbling and cursing hotly under his breath while he does this. 

Whatever the angel's looking for only takes a few minutes to find, Richie letting a gleeful shout when he finally finds whatever he's looking for. Once the angel takes a deep shaky breath, he rushes back to where Eddie's waiting with the mysterious item hiding behind his back and his bottom lip trapped between his teeth. He tries and fails about three separate times to say something before giving up and all but shoving what's in his hands at Eddie, who in return swallows hard at the sight of the smooth blue pouch now in his possession. With quivering hands he slowly pulls apart the drawstrings and peers inside the little bag, revealing a necklace inside of it made of a black string that has multiple red crystal beads piled on top of each and three fluffy feathers from Richie's wings dangling from the middle it. 

"Richie, I, what?" Eddie babbles in shock as he looks at such a pretty piece of jewelry, causing the other boy to simply take the necklace and tenderly place it over his head until it settles nicely around the base of his neck.

"Demons aren't the only ones with courting rituals you know-" Richie begins to say only to be cut off by his boyfriend tackling him to the ground once again, chattering a mile a minute about how much he adores the necklace and how he'll never take it off.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also over on my tumblr @sheepywritesfics


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